Forget-Me-Not

Chapter II: What's the Matter, Raine?

The rays of morning sunlight crept into the crevices on the windowsill, illuminating the room with a mix of yellow and orange hue. The exhausting day that had just passed was all sketched on her bare torso, letting her experience the body pain and all the other aftermath. Her mom had most likely planned to drain the remaining life she had with the silly errands she'd kept asking her to do all day long.

Even so, as if a generous hand from above had waved at her with all sympathy, she found a very relaxing morning which was almost miraculous. That didn't last long though. If there was one thing that Phoebe hated the most early in the morning, it was being dragged out of slumber hastily. With all the poking fingers and reverberating sound waves destroying her eardrums, she had no choice but to force open her 2-ton eyelids.

"What a beautiful day, isn't it baby?!", her mom cheerfully said, and that was a yell, and yes early in the morning.

Phoebe didn't agree even the slightest for she had been engulfed by the irritation and the bad feeling that the morning dizziness had given her. She stared at her mom with her blood-shot orbs.

"And who told you it was a beautiful morning, mom? Well yeah, It was. Not until you started shaking the hell out of me. Seriously, don't you know how to knock at least?"

"Nah! That's time consuming. Plus, you surely wouldn't have gotten up if I had merely knocked. Now, get up and go wash up.", Dorothy commanded.

Phoebe rolled her eyes, who could blame her? She had seen these all coming. "What delusional stuffs do you have for me to do today?"

"Ohh! You're so sweet Phoebe Honey! You don't have to feel so excited, well not that I can blame you. Anyways, do you remember Mrs. Anne? The old lady living on the other part of the hill?"

Phoebe really tried to make her mind start working. She succeeded, well hardly. "The old woman who died of suffocation?"

Dorothy paused, flabbergasted. Then she knew the fire had just lit up. If there was one thing her daughter was best at, it was exceeding her limit to the point that she would have to pray to God so she wouldn't smash her face.

"Honey, that is Mrs. Elionor, and she lived near the entrance of the village. I'm talking about Mrs. Anne, the old woman who has a big garden in her yard. Your dad met her yesterday at the bakery, she told him that the strawberries were almost ready for harvest."

"Ohh I see, okay."

She did the necessary; Took a bath, put on her anti-Baguio clothes, then ate her breakfast. Along with her mom and dad, they walked down the steep grassy path leading to the other side of the hill where Mrs. Anne's house was located. On their way, it was impossible for Phoebe to keep her pace constant as she would shiver every minute which was slowing her down. When she glanced over her mom and dad, she was envious to see them chatting their ass just fine, not the least affected by the cold.

She pulled her hood further over her head and tightened the opening with the two laces hanging in front. She shoved her hands inside the side pockets then caught up to her parents' pace. If she was absolutely honest, she wanted to yell at this old couple for torturing her like this. As much as she wanted to try enjoying everything, she didn't, she couldn't, because her biggest enemy was the temperature. One could only imagine how she was doing at the moment.

When they reached the place, Mrs. Anne immediately ran to them as if she had been waiting for their visit the whole time. She started the conversation with a very wide smile that every old woman wore after seeing their grandchildren after a long time.

"I am so glad you made it today. I've been wanting to show you my lovely crops in the backyard and the newly-grown winter flowers.", Mrs. Anne joyfully admitted.